Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Done in by the facts

I’ve long suspected that the path to goodness can only be paved by fact. If you don’t have a strong sense of what’s real, what’s accurate and what isn’t, how the heck can you do what’s right? For example, a whole lot of inaccurate “fact” once/still props up racism, sexism, homophobia and a host of other human ills.

All of this makes recent findings by political scientists and psychologists unsettling. Researchers like the University of Michigan’s Brendan Nyhan found that not only do people cling to inaccurate facts, but they won’t change their minds even when presented with accurate information. Fighting lies with fact can even backfire, causing folks to cling more fiercely to their mistaken beliefs. Read More.